Proof I am actually working on my New Years Goals!

Today I did some grocery shopping. Being the awesome mother that I am I even did it with a cranky 3 year old and a 7 month old who has recently decided she doesn't need a morning nap. Using my super amazing powers as a mother, I got all of us out the door and managed not to forget our grocery list. I *may* have bribed Oliver by telling him he could have a sucker if he would be my helper. However, in our house we call that an incentive.

Our goal today was to work on goal #1--feed the kids. I went to the store to buy our weekly groceries and lots of fresh produce and healthy alternatives for us to eat. Our meal plan for the week included several kid-friendly meals with healthy options. Here is our meal plan for the next week:

Friday-- Stir Fry (Happy Chinese New Year by the way!)

Saturday-- Tacos

Sunday-- Homemade Pizza from scratch

Monday-- Pasta with tomato basil and beef sauce

Tuesday-- Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Wednesday-- Church Dinner Night (mommy doesn't cook--YES!!!!!)

Thursday-- Mac & Cheese and Veggies

The next goal was to organize our refrigerator with healthy eating and young children in mind. I filled small containers with fresh fruit and cheese for little hands to have easy access to. I also made sure their favorite yogurts were right in front. Most importantly, I keep water bottles for each of my boys on the top shelf. When I am busy with the baby and they need a glass of water they can grab it themselves. A wonderful lactation consultant from Iowa City gave me this perfect little tidbit of advice and really it is genius! The other thing I did was make the top shelf a place for leftovers. We never seem to grab them unless they are the first thing we see. Knowing this, I put all of our leftovers and extras from this week on the top shelf. Hopefully this will cut down on food waste in our house.

So there you have it--I am actually working on our goals for 2012! And now you have proof of all of my hard work!

2012

2011 was a pretty wild year. In a nut shell we moved to a new place, we had a baby, and I officially switched to staying at home full time. Lots of changes in the Schenk household meant mommy was a little bit crazy (I said a little bit so don't lock me up just yet). We some how didn't find the time for blogging.

2012 will be better--I think. Brent just started an executive MBA program which is proving to be harder on me than it will be for him. Week one is over and the poor guy had to endure living in a suave hotel with housekeeping and a catered lunch and dinner for every meal. Hardly roughing it. Meanwhile, our household was on the brink of catastrophe that would match any apocalyptic nuclear meltdown. Our week involved strep throat, a blizzard and a funeral. Oh, and the Packers lost to the Giants. In all seriousness, I am hoping that at this point the rest of 2012 will not repeat itself.

There really is a lot of good things to look forward to this year. I may just be crazy (see first paragraph) but I have lots of goals for this house. In the spirit of making new year's resolutions here is what I would like to do this year.

1) Feed the kids. Starving children just don't look happy in family photos. JUST KIDDING. I feed my kids. However, this year I think we are going to try and incorporate more fresh fruit and veggies in our meals and we are going to try and eat more unprocessed food and organic food. If we can find the time this spring I would like to start a family garden too. Maybe I can make the kids do the work for me! :-D

2) Become debt free. Bye bye student loans! Dave Ramsey says I should kick you to the curb! Cheetah meet budget -- you have met your match!

3) Blog something. 2011 was a bad year for blogging. Even if I said I would double my posts from last year I don't think it would be enough! So here is to hoping for one post for each month!

4) Don't be a hoarder. In 2011 we got rid of stuff. Lots of old clothes and boxes of forgotten items. This year I want to continue to get organized. Less stuff has meant less cleaning. As the president of Bad Housekeeping I can promise that less cleaning is a good thing. Getting organized will be our goal this year.

5) Go running with a donut on a stick. Not really but yeah kind of. Now that the baby is older that means I can send her to the gym's childcare. Which pretty much means mommy has no excuse to NOT use the gym when we pay a nice little price tag for it. What is a mom to do when she hates the elliptical? I think I will just have to find a nice little carrot on a stick for me to chase after. I have some health and fitness goals for this year. I think if I do them I should get something nice, like a piece of chocolate cake that I don't have to share with the kids. Then again, maybe food shouldn't be my reward....

Well that is my food for thought today. Here is to a wonderful rest of 2012!